A heartbroken lover wanders through a cold and magical Alberta winter. The landscape is the voice of a transformational Winter’s Journey weaving in and out of scenes from a live Pandemic performance of “Winterreise, Op. 89”, Schubert’s famous 24 song-cycle.
It was performed in November 2020 by Brett Polegato, one of Canada’s best baritones, and four pianists in a secluded barn-turned-concert hall in rural Alberta, Canada.
The concert performance was organized by the artistic director of the International Festival of Song and Chamber Music Society, Kathleen van Mourik.
"The International Festival of Song and Chamber Music Society has embarked on a journey: a Winter Journey, to be precise. This is a collaborative project connecting the performance of Franz Schubert's music with art, film, video, and the Alberta environment. Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter Journey) is a timeless trip, one filled with feelings found in the depths of the human heart: despair, dreams of the past, the premonition of death (including Schubert’s own), hope; as well as the presence of nature - rustling leaves, storms, icicles, frozen tears. I hope that this universal music will reach out to people in a dark time, a time when we need to connect despite the necessity of separation."
Conceived and directed by Eveline Kolijn
Runtime 99 minutes; Canada 2022 English subtitles
Cast/performers
Brett Polegato, baritone
Charles Foreman, piano
Kathleen van Mourik, piano
Jack Olszewski, piano
Cindy Zhang, piano
Crew
Eveline Kolijn, artist, animator, filmmaker
Trey Mills, recording and sound engineer
Stephen Lubig, performance videography
Filmmaker Eveline Kolijn transposes the scenery from German poetry to an Albertan landscape and augment it with her art placed in the environment. The voice merges with the landscape, singing the human experience of a broken heart into natural and supernatural phenomena such as storms, sundogs, and will-o'-the-wisps, expressing sublime beauty and terror.
Schubert called this a “harrowing cycle of songs,” and it is especially so, during this time. This music calls out to us today, as we settle into an unknown winter, a cold prairie landscape (Alberta), a time of disease, upheaval and mystery, and weirdness that Schubert's music portrays so well, even for today's world.
Credits:
Eveline Kolijn